Best PlacesWayne County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wayne County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wayne County ranks 2,271st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on car insurance costs and a weak job market. It does better on walkability, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Wayne County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Wayne County
The parts of Wayne County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Livonia, Northville & Redford
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Westland, Plymouth & Dearborn Heights
Fewer homes sit empty and crime runs lower.
Canton, Belleville & Taylor
Streets are more car-dependent and biking is worse.
Lincoln Park, Trenton & Southgate
Prices have run up less and health care is easier to reach.
Detroit
Fewer households have young kids and fewer residents vote.
Hamtramck, Highland Park & Grosse Pointe Woods
Transit reaches more jobs, though schools score lower.
Dearborn
Health outcomes score lower.
River Rouge
Homes cost less, though it is noisier.
Wayne County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Wayne County's strengths and weaknesses
Wayne County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Walkability is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Biking and transit follow.
The one real hole is car insurance costs, near the bottom of the country. A weak job market and noise also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Wayne County to another than it does between Wayne County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Wayne County ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 97% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of counties
Where Wayne County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wayne County
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wayne County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,550, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Wayne County's effective rate of 1.51%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wayne County
Wayne County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wayne County.
Who works in Wayne County, and how
Work in Wayne County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Wayne County
Wayne County has more parkland per resident than 86% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 75% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wayne County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wayne County growing, and who is moving in?
Wayne County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Detroit, MI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wayne County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wayne County, month by month
Wayne County sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Wayne County
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 10 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Wayne County
Schools across Wayne County average a C−, better than 26% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Gallimore Elementary SchoolA+ · 96% proficient
- Crestwood Accelerated ProgramA+ · 95% proficient
- Webster Elementary SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dearborn Stem Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- East Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Meads Mill Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Airport Middle CollegeA · 75% proficient
- Northville High SchoolA− · 66% proficient
- Grosse Pointe South High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wayne County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wayne County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Wayne County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wayne County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Wayne County
Is Wayne County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wayne County ranks 2,271st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and transit, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wayne County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,211. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $70,550 median income, cost of living beats 41% of counties.
Is Wayne County safe?
Wayne County is safer than 8% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $780 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wayne County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 20. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wayne County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Livonia, Northville & Redford, Westland, Plymouth & Dearborn Heights, and Canton, Belleville & Taylor. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Wayne County good for families?
Schools beat 26% of counties, crime safety beats 8%, and childcare runs $834 a month.
Is Wayne County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 41% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 73% of counties. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Wayne County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wayne County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wayne County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Wayne County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wayne County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wayne County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wayne County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wayne County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wayne County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.